Alterations.

Oh I am super proud. I had an oldish shirt with puffy sleeves shaped like bows, which looked nice in the shop but I forgot the rule that I don't like puffy sleeves on me, and they look bunchy under jumpers and stuff. So on Thursday night I cut the sleeves off but left a little bit and hemmed, so now they are small 'cap' sleeves. So at least I can wear it under cardigans. Felt wrong cutting off the main feature of the shirt, but they made it unwearable, so it was better that they go and I will wear the shirt more.

 Before:

Sleeves shaped like bows:

After:

What I call 'cap sleeves':

Here's a secret: Although it is satisfying, sewing is not glamorous and creative. I'm not a perfectionist, I'm a getthejobdoneist. I only do alterations like this when it's economically the best thing to do. I'm not that confident that I can always improve things, there is usually a significant chance of mangling things up. So if I don't mind possibly ruining it, I feel safe to try altering it. And when it's something that's never getting worn, there is nothing to lose. I'll actually spend months pondering an unworn dress or whatever, figuring out what would make it more wearable, and if it is within my abilities to achieve, then I'll suddenly hack into it and do the most basic alteration I can. If it doesn't work, it goes in the bin.

D sent me a link to a good sewing blog. I love love love this post! After my no-shopping challenge I tried to be extremely deliberate about buying clothes that helped build outfits. Limiting colour palette etc. I still have some lovely but rarely-worn skirts in my wardrobe that don't go with anything, but I've been working on the situation and gradually supplying my skirts with shirts and cardigans that "match" (in a non-matchy-matchy way).